Mendon Town Meeting to consider Planning Board articles

Friday

Feb 21, 2014 at 4:00 AM

By Mike GleasonDaily News Staff

MENDON - Town voters will be asked to consider two articles from the Planning Board at the Special Town Meeting on Feb. 24.The articles, two of the 19 on the warrant, seek to amend the town's zoning bylaws. Board Chairman William Ambrosino said the purpose of the articles is to expand and clarify its list of allowed uses."Mendon had never used a table for its list of uses - it had always been in paragraph form," he said. "It would make things easier to manage if they were in a table, like almost every town does."Ambrosino said the articles also sought to make the bylaws more consistent, noting that some hadn't been changed in 30 to 40 years."If you look at the center of town, many of them are probably not being followed," he said. "We looked at similar towns to Mendon, and developed a good set of bylaws."According to Ambrosino, one change would involve the regulations that govern in-home businesses."These would be very conservative small offices - they have to keep the nature of the building," he said. "These would be things like doctor's, dentist's or lawyer's offices."Ambrosino said the board had most recently worked with the town Agricultural Commission to help determine where certain agricultural uses, like farmers markets, are permitted in town.Ambrosino said the last revision of zoning bylaws created some new uses, and that this one would apply them to certain districts in town.The Special Town Meeting is set to take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the Miscoe Hill Middle School.Mike Gleason can be reached at 508-634-7546 or mgleason@wickedlocal.com. For news throughout the day, follow him on Twitter @MGleason_MDN.